1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for adjustably mounting a tablet PC or portable personal computer for hands-free emplacement in a diverse range of environments. More particularly, the apparatus of the present invention attaches to various surfaces via a mounting means that is flexibly connected to a separately adjustable frame for holding a tablet PC, where the ultimate emplacement of the tablet PC is finely regulated via multiple, independently adjustable features of the apparatus. The apparatus enables stable and precise positioning of any tablet PC on even the most unsteady and irregular substrates, providing exceptional utility during vehicular travel, natural disasters, crowded public events, and other harsh conditions.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following review of related art is intended to provide edifying examples of problems and pitfalls in the design and use of personal computer mounting apparatuses. No admission is made that any reference, including any patent or patent document, cited in this specification constitutes prior art with respect to the present invention. Applicant reserves the right to challenge the accuracy and pertinence of any of the documents cited herein.
The “tablet PC” is a portable personal computer (PPC) generally characterized by a prominent touch-screen interface and a thin rectangular geometry that is rapidly becoming the preferred personal digital accessory (PDA) among consumers. Tablet PCs emphasize the capacity for powerful full-range personal computing and necessarily possess larger dimensions and heavier weights than prior PDAs, which generally comprise cellular phones, music players, digital cameras, or GPS navigators. The PDAs in the prior art prioritize their respective consumer electronics functions and marginalize personal computing capacity, placing a premium on achieving miniaturization rather than versatility. Although these distinctions are merely trends and not rules, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, they are manifested in the failure of prior art PDA mounting devices to accommodate the substantially greater bulk and weight of tablet PCs. Prior art mounting apparatuses are too fragile for, too unstable for, and fundamentally incompatible with tablet PCs and related PPCs.
A popular solution to the mounting requirements of tablet PCs in a stationary environment on a horizontal surface is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,969,732 to Noble. The Noble device comprises a groove in a pedestal which receives an edge of a tablet PC, holding it upright by action of gravity alone. Although convenient and rapidly assembled, the Noble device provides no stabilizing function to hold the mounted tablet PC in a moving environment, i.e., during travel, or upon a non-horizontal surface. U.S. Pat. No. 5,607,135 to Yamada presents a similar tablet stand concept having an adjustable angle of support, but which is still susceptible to dislodgment during travel-associated movement.
The particular difficulty of mounting a tablet PC in a moving vehicle is expressed in the elaborate solution proposed in U.S. Pat. App. No. 2011/0114686 to Franzi. The Franzi invention resembles a child safety chair, occupying an entire passenger seat in a vehicle, having a swiveling armature for bolting or engaging the back of a tablet PC or other portable computer. Although secure against lateral motion and hard-braking, the Franzi invention occupies an excessive amount of space inside the travel compartment and requires a driver to look away from the road in order to view the screen.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,861,985 to Galvin discloses an apparatus for securing small, lightweight PDAs to various surfaces, the apparatus comprising a mounting means in the form of a common spring clip that is in turn connected by a flexible gooseneck to a universal belt clip that attaches to the PDA. Although the Galvin invention is heralded as a travel accessory, the security of the mounting attachment is dependent upon the grip of the spring clip, which is notorious for slipping off of surfaces unless the surfaces possess precisely square, non-slippery, protruding edges less than about 2-3 inches wide. Such surfaces are rarely present inside automobiles, airplanes, buses, and most other common means of travel. Instead, the Galvin invention in practice must be clipped to the curvy plastic surfaces of dashboards, consoles, meal trays, or arm-rests which are almost always coated in some form of slippery organic solvent or substance and further destabilized by vibration and turbulence during travel. Another drawback of this invention is the obtrusiveness of the long gooseneck, which not only acts as a lever, placing greater destabilizing force upon the spring clip in proportion to the weight of the PDA mounted on its proximal end, but which also is not adjustable lengthwise, and therefore becomes an inconvenient obstacle, preventing access to the area behind the mounted computer and intruding undesirably into the interior of the cabin or space occupied by a traveling user. The Galvin device and the numerous related prior art devices discussed in the Galvin disclosure may be suitable for holding small music players or smart phones, but they cannot be reliably used for mounting a relatively large and heavy tablet PC of the types that predominate in the marketplace today, particularly inside a car or other moving vehicle.
Clips or frames attached directly to suction cups are the predominant method for reversibly mounting PDAs including GPS navigation devices in automobiles, and on non-horizontal surfaces. U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2011/0073743 to Shamie describes a device virtually identical to the Galvin device except the spring clip has been replaced with a suction cup. U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2010/0274483 to Wikel describes a suction cup that attaches to the inside of the windshield or to the top surface of a dashboard, accommodating a PDA via a connector adjacent to the suction cup. Neither of these prior art devices are suitable for holding a tablet PC because of its relatively large width and heavy weight compared to GPS devices and smart phones. With regard to travel use, the interior slope of the windshield in most cars limits the size of a mounted device to 3-4 inches if mounted above the dashboard, and the heavy weight of a tablet PC will overcome the strength of any gooseneck arm if extended horizontally away from the windshield into the passenger area beyond the dashboard.
Scant incentives exist for promoting the development of greater weight and size capacities in existing dashboard clips and windshield suction cup devices for good reason, because the bulk of heavier, larger devices such as tablet PCs would obscure a significant portion of a driver's view through the windshield, and when such bulky devices are extended by a gooseneck or other arm several inches into the passenger compartment in order to space them sufficiently far away from the windshield that they can present their screens vertically, they become a distracting and potentially dangerous physical obstruction. Consequently, most larger PPCs and video screens are installed permanently, and not removeably, in the center consoles of a dashboard, rear panels of a seatback, or panels attached to the ceiling.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,894,003 to Chang exemplifies the permanently mounted type of apparatus that is commonly used to hold computer devices and screens in the ceiling or seat-backs of vehicles ranging from automobiles to airplanes. Unfortunately, the Chang device and its related inventions are not adapted for portability or for reversible assembly, and therefore they are not amenable to a traveler who desires to quickly remove the screen and hardware components when exiting a vehicle or to quickly install them upon entering a vehicle. Furthermore, these mounting devices are not particularly suitable for touch-screen control since they are mounted overhead, beyond the comfortable reach of a seated person, or alternatively when they are mounted in a seatback, excluding access from the driver's seat and front passenger seat of a car, which is where the majority of consumers would prefer to have access to their tablet PCs while traveling.
Suction cup mounting devices which suspend any electronic device in front of a windshield present particular hazards to the passengers of the vehicle in the event of an accident. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,857,268 to Chiu provides a robust mounting apparatus for PDAs that contains a rigid metal frame suspended in a windshield by two suction cups. Not only does the Chiu invention significantly obstruct the view through the windshield, but also it represents a grave hazard if any accident should occur that resulted in the shattering of the windshield, which would dislodge the heavy metal mounting device and send it hurling through the passenger compartment at head-level.
As a result of the shortfalls in the prior art, an unmet need exists for an apparatus that permits the rapid, convenient, versatile, and finely adjustable emplacement of PPCs in diverse environments to enable convenient and reliable operation during travel, fieldwork, rescue operations, and other endeavors where a stable desklike surface is not likely to be available and where alternation between locations is expected. Any satisfactory solution to this unmet need requires that the screen of a tablet PC be positionable in a substantially stable and accessible orientation regardless of the underlying substrate. In particular, a user traveling in the passenger compartment of a vehicle must be able to view and manipulate the graphical user interface (GUI) of the tablet PC screen while seated and facing forward. The solution to this unmet need must provide a mounting apparatus that resists the destabilizing effects of turbulence, vibrations, lateral movement, and other disruptions without being so massive as to significantly impede a driver's view through a windshield, increase the clutter of a compartment, or obstruct the accessibility of an area. The ideal apparatus should be, in some embodiments, easily reversibly mountable so that a user can quickly move from one location or vehicle to another, while in other embodiments the mounting means should emphasize strength and permanence.